Election

Primaries Prove The Trump Agenda Still Sells

In multiple races this week, pro-Trump candidates won against establishment picks.

The results show that President Trump is still a brand that wins in elections, a good sign with midterms looming.

In what is a never ending cycle of campaigns and elections here in the United States, one thing is a known quantity: you only align yourself with those that will help you win. Sometimes candidates take a gamble and attach themselves to outliers with a hope that they can help. Many times, candidates stick with the party heads to get them in office. Rarely, however, do sitting Presidents make huge differences in midterm elections. In recent history, midterms are a swing of the pendulum back towards the party that lost in the last national election. We saw this phenomena during all of the last four Presidencies. Candidates that closely stood by the sitting President didn’t do terribly well. Trump seems to be changing all that.

You only align yourself with those that will help you win.

On Tuesday, multiple primaries were held nationwide, but there were three states where the GOP has focused their efforts: Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. The three U.S. Senate races in those states will be linchpins for the Democrats if they have any hope of shaking up the power structure in Washington before 2020. All three seats are currently held by Democrats from the Obama era, but are ripe for the flip.

On Tuesday, in the three seats that the GOP needs to win the most, pro-Trump candidates won the day. Mike Braun (Indiana), Jim Renacci (Ohio), and Patrick Morrisey (West Virginia) all won their primaries against establishment GOP picks. In West Virginia, Morrisey faced opposition from Mitch McConnell, who back the populist conservative’s opponent, Representative Evan Jenkins. In Indiana, Mike Braun was going up against two sitting congressmen in Todd Rokita and Luke Messer. Despite the uphill battle, the most pro-Trump candidate won the day. Representative Renacci, from Ohio, has long been a staunch Trump supporter. Just last week, Renacci signed a letter crafted to nominate President Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Even more than winning the primaries, many pro-Trump candidates (including the three above) are poised and polling towards big victories in November. The Trump/MAGA movement is not a one time phenomena and anyone who believes that is blissfully ignorant. The Democrats may be setting themselves up for another tough election cycle later this year.